Method for evaluation of lignin

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present method, a method for evaluation of lignin may comprise the steps of: providing lignin from a source, wherein the composition of lignin is unknown; analyzing the lignin by molecular spectroscopy methods and/or physical-chemical analysis; determining the composition of the lignin; and using the determination of the composition to predict at least one biobased product produced from the lignin. Within the method, a statistical analysis of the lignin may provide a prediction for one or more products produced and/or the yield of one or more products.

Having thus described the method, it is now claimed: 
     
         1 . A method for evaluation of lignin, comprising the steps of:
 providing lignin from a source, wherein the composition of said lignin is unknown;   analyzing said lignin;   determining said composition of said lignin; and   using said determination of said composition to predict at least one biobased product produced from said lignin.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said lignin is provided from at least one biomass of plant biomass, woody plant biomass, agricultural plant biomass, and cultivated plant biomass. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said lignin is provided from at least one biomass of fresh plant biomass, recovered plant biomass, pulp and paper mill biomass, cellulosic ethanol refinery biomass, sugar cane mill biomass, kraft pulp mill, sulfite pulp mill, soda pulp mill, cellulosic ethanol refinery, commercial plant biomass fractionator biomass, and lignin residues biomass. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said lignin is provided from waste lignin. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said waste lignin is provided from at least one waste lignin of recovered biomass waste lignin, kraft pulp mill waste lignin, sulfite pulp mill waste lignin, soda pulp mill waste lignin, cellulosic ethanol refinery waste lignin, commercial plant biomass fractionator waste lignin, and sugar cane mill waste lignin. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said lignin comprises at least one lignin building block of p-coumaryl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol, and sinapyl alcohol. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said analyzing said lignin is provided by molecular spectroscopy. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said molecular spectroscopy is provided by at least one molecular spectroscopy of infrared spectroscopy, total reflectance infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, luminescence spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, transient spectroscopy, homonuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, heteronuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and/or two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said molecular spectroscopy is provided by at least two molecular spectroscopies infrared spectroscopy, total reflectance infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, luminescence spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, transient spectroscopy, homonuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, heteronuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and/or two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said analyzing said lignin is provided by a physical-chemical analysis. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said physical-chemical analysis is provided by at least one physical-chemical analysis of appearance analysis, moisture content analysis, melting point analysis, melting point range analysis, molecular weight analysis, molecular weight distribution analysis, size exclusion chromatographic analysis, thin layer liquid chromatographic analysis, high performance liquid chromatographic analysis, gas chromatographic analysis, particle size analysis, chemical oxidation analysis, chemical derivative analysis, chemical methoxy content analysis, chemical degradation analysis, biodegradation analysis, photochemical degradation analysis, pH titration analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, rheological analysis, pyrolysis degradation analysis, residual carbohydrate analysis, residue on ignition analysis, heavy metals analysis, density analysis, x-ray diffraction analysis, x-ray powder analysis, and elemental analysis. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said physical-chemical analysis is provided by at least two physical-chemical analyses of appearance analysis, moisture content analysis, melting point analysis, melting point range analysis, molecular weight analysis, molecular weight distribution analysis, size exclusion chromatographic analysis, thin layer liquid chromatographic analysis, high performance liquid chromatographic analysis, gas chromatographic analysis, particle size analysis, chemical oxidation analysis, chemical derivative analysis, chemical methoxy content analysis, chemical degradation analysis, biodegradation analysis, photochemical degradation analysis, pH titration analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, rheological analysis, pyrolysis degradation analysis, residual carbohydrate analysis, residue on ignition analysis, heavy metals analysis, density analysis, x-ray diffraction analysis, x-ray powder analysis, and elemental analysis. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said analyzing said lignin provides at least one experimental datum related to said composition of said lignin. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein said composition of said lignin biomass comprises p-coumaryl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol, and sinapyl alcohol. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein said experimental datum is processed manually or electronically. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said analyzing said lignin provides at least two experimental data related to the composition of said lignin. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said analyzing said lignin comprises the additional step of:
 performing a statistical analysis of experimental data.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein said step of performing statistical analysis of experimental data is provided by at least one computational method of manual computation, spreadsheet computation, website computation, and statistical software computation. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein said step of performing statistical analysis of experimental data is conducted on a calculator or a computer. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein said step of performing statistical analysis of experimental data comprises a regression analysis of experimental data. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said regression analysis of experimental data is provided by at least one regression analysis of linear regression analysis and multivariant regression analysis. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said regression analysis of experimental data is provided by linear least squares regression analysis. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said regression analysis of experimental data is provided by at least one computational method of manual computation, spreadsheet computation, website computation, and statistical software computation. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said regression analysis of experimental data is conducted on a calculator or a computer. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said step of using said determination of said composition to predict at least one biobased product produced from said lignin has an accuracy of about 70% to about 100%. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said step of using said determination of said composition to predict at least one biobased product produced from said lignin has an accuracy of about 85% to about 100%. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said determination of said composition provides a prediction of a product yield of at least one of said biobased product produced from said lignin. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said determination of said composition provides a prediction of a product yield of at least two of said biobased products produced from said lignin. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein said step of determining said composition of said lignin provides said prediction of a product yield of at least one of said biobased product produced from said lignin with an accuracy of about 70% to about 100%. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein said step of determining said composition of said lignin provides said prediction of a product yield of at least one of said biobased product produced from said lignin with an accuracy of about 85% to about 100%. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one biobased product produced from said lignin is provided by at least one product of biobased chemicals, biofuels, biomaterials, and lignin residues. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said determining said composition of said lignin provides quality control in at least one operation of a biobased product refinery operation, commercial biomass fractionators operation, pulp/paper mills operation, cellulosic ethanol refineries operation, and/or sugar cane mill operations. 
     
     
         33 . A method for evaluation and processing of lignin, comprising the steps of:
 providing lignin from at least two sources, wherein the composition of said lignin is unknown;   analyzing each of said lignin from at least two sources;   determining said composition of each of said lignin from said at least two sources;   using said determination of said composition of each of said lignin from said at least two sources to predict at least one biobased product;   determining said at least one of biobased product to produce; and   blending said lignin in defined proportions and amounts from said at least two sources to produce said at least one biobased product.   
     
     
         34 . A method for evaluation of biomass feedstock, comprising the steps of:
 providing lignin from a source comprising at least one biomass of woody plant biomass, agricultural plant biomass, cultivated plant biomass, kraft pulping biomass, sulfite pulping biomass, soda pulping biomass, cellulosic ethanol refinery biomass, sugarcane mill biomass, lignin residue biomass, and waste biomass, wherein the composition of said lignin is unknown;   analyzing said lignin by molecular spectroscopy;   analyzing said lignin biomass by physical-chemical analysis;   providing experimental data related to the molecular structure of said lignin;   performing regression analysis of said experimental data; and   determining said composition of said lignin;   
       wherein said step of determining said composition of said lignin provides a prediction of at least one biobased product produced from said lignin and said prediction has an accuracy of about 85% to about 100%.